Scorecard

South Weald 1 v Purleigh CC Saturday 1st XI on Sat 02 May 2026 at 1.00pm
Purleigh CC Won by 1 wicket

Match report PURLEIGH GO CLICKETY-CLICK IN GAME ONE

For Purleigh Cricket Club, the first match of the season can be a bit of a lotto job, as eleven mature gents rock up with minimal practice and fitness training. Our opposition, South Weald, had quite a serious-looking warm-up, but also boasted some well-seasoned players and at least matched the Purleigh lads for extra timber added over the winter.

Losing the toss, Purleigh were asked to field first in warm, sunny conditions. Jai Patel immediately found the hard, dry track to his liking, some good carry pushing the keeper much further back than usual and regularly beating the bat. A short boundary, fast outfield and positive batting gave South Weald the early momentum, reaching 50 for no loss inside ten overs. But that momentum would swing back and forth through an afternoon with plenty of skilful cricket on display, interspersed with a dropped catch here and there. Melvin John took Purleigh's first wicket at 50 for 1, Martin Owers picked up the second with a good Jai Patel catch, 78 for 2 in 18 overs. Drinks were reached at 109 for 2 in 22 overs (no little ducks yet on display), with a big score potentially on the cards. Matt Oliver responded with a drinks-break wicket, 117 for 3. Purleigh then fought their way back with disciplined bowling from Matt, Melvin and the skipper. Matt, under the weather with a cold, deserved to follow his exhausting nine overs with doctor's orders of retirement to bed, but was alert to take a catch round the corner off Melvin to make it 151 for 5 after 34 overs. Wicket number three for Melvin (153 for 6), should have earned him a cup of tea but he soldiered on with a spring in his step, the best Purleigh fielder of the day. With nine overs left and 153 on the board, the visitors were on top, but the hosts fought back to finish on 245 for 9, with late wickets for Martin and Jai.

In reply, and in markedly worse batting conditions with rain on the way, Purleigh openers Freegard and Taylor raced out of the blocks as though it was an IPL power play, and were well worth it reaching 56 in 6 overs. Over seven was not so lucky, as both openers were bowled, first Taylor for two dozen, followed by Chris for all the threes, thirty-three. Mark Rynn went for no score, at 70 for 3 the odds were swinging back in favour of the home side. But with Dan Oliver and Ranjan at the crease, Purleigh were not going to die wondering, 52 (Danny La Rue) added in 9.3 overs before Ranj got in a state, caught and bowled for 28. Steve Rynn and Dan kept the run rate up, partnering for 53 before losing Dan for a very valuable three score and ten, tickety-boo in sixty-two balls. Jai followed next ball, and when Steve went for a hard-fought 14 in the 30th over Purleigh were 176 for 7 and South Weald had a (Kelly's) eye on win number one. Luckily, Purleigh's number 8 and 9 batters, Melvin John and Martin Owers can both bat a bit. They got their heads down, ran well, hit bad balls to the rope and took the visitors to 236, within sight of the finish line before Melvin fell for more than eleven, thirty-seven, from 42 balls. Squeaky-bum time arrived as Matt Oliver was out with no score added, leaving last man Ed Oliver three overs with Martin, to find ten runs. Fortunately, Martin was on-strike and took a four and a leg-bye from the 5th and 6th balls of the 43rd over to keep Purleigh on track. A four from the last ball of the 44th over brought the scores level, leaving Ed a whole over to find the winning run. Conveniently, a fielder was shifted from round the corner after two balls, and the third was already heading to the leg side allowing 66-year old Ed to go clickety-click and nudge it to the empty space, and bingo, a nerve-jangling win was completed.


South Weald 1 Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
2nb 1w 14b 3lb 
for 9 wickets
20
245 (45.0 overs)		     
D. Kay lbw  M. John 29 38 5 76.32
G. Palmer ct  Patel b. Owers 26 48 3 1 54.17
V. Lingala ct  M. Oliver b. M. John 60 68 10 88.24
R. Hull lbw  M. Oliver 19 18 4 105.56
D. Knight b  Freegard 7 30 1 23.33
B. Hull b  Patel 65 49 5 4 132.65
B. Verma ct  E. Oliver b. M. John 0 5 0
A. Mckie ct  M. John b. Owers 9 10 1 90.0
C. Todd run out  (Taylor) 7 3 1 233.33
P. Stroud Not Out  2 2 100
A. Jones Not Out  1 2 50.0

Purleigh CC Saturday 1st XI Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Jai Patel9.0152152.005.78
Matt Oliver9.0149149.005.44
Melvin John9.0139313.004.33
Martin Owers9.0061230.506.78
Christian Freegard9.0127127.003.00

Purleigh CC Saturday 1st XI Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
1nb 5w 2b 1lb 
for 9 wickets
9
246		        
Christian Freegard b  B. Hull 33 26 8 126.92
Josh Taylor b  B. Hull 24 14 4 1 171.43
Dan Oliver ct  Knight b. B. Hull 70 62 9 3 112.90
Mark Rynn ct  Jones 0 9 0
Ranjan Gulati ct  and bowled Todd 28 31 4 1 90.32
Steve Rynn b  Stroud 14 31 1 1 45.16
Jai Patel ct  Lingala b. B. Hull 0 1 0 1
Melvin John b  Stroud 37 42 6 88.10 1
Martin Owers Not Out  30 44 5 68.18
Matt Oliver b  Stroud 0 5 0 1
Ed Oliver Not Out  1 3 33.33 1

South Weald 1 Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
B. Hull9.0155413.756.11
A. Jones8.0147147.005.88
C. Todd8.0142142.005.25
A. Mckie5.004100.008.20
P. Stroud9.012939.673.22
B. Verma5.302900.005.27